The krater’s handles, beautifully ornamented with the black ivy pattern, complete the details. It is a complex combination of a stopt key alternating with the saltire squares (sometimes also with crosses, or meanders). The lip of the vase features the signature decorative band pattern of the Berlin Painter, the ULFA pattern (from “upper, lower, facing alternately”). The line with tongue pattern adorns the narrow area above the foot of the vase. They form a chain on the upper portion of the neck. The decorative bands separating the scenes from the rest of the vessel are the meticulously reoccurring palmettes and the buds of lotus.

The remaining part of the vessel, besides the complex decorative band patterns, remains black. Rest of the vase: The entire narrative is contained in one circular frieze, which the painter placed on the lower portion of the neck of the vase.Eos, at distance behind him, has stretched out her arms as if pulling her hair out her lips are open in a cry as she is about to lose her son. Memnon defends himself with a sword in his right hand while another one is at his left side (which is a peculiar detail of the image). Achilles is charging at Memnon from the left - traditionally the victor’s side - holding the spear made of Pelian ash (it came from the ash tree at Mount Pelion). Watching it are Thetis (Achilles’ mother, goddess of water) and Eos (Memnon’s mother, goddess of the dawn).

Side A – Achilles and Memnon: On one side is the fight between Achilles and the Ethiopian king, Memnon-the brother of Priam, the last king of Troy.

The shape of this vase is called a volute krater (named after the spiral handles resembling the volutes of the Ionian columns). The vase is a masterpiece of the red-figure technique and one of the iconic examples of Athenian pottery. What do you see? A monumental vase with two mythological scenes painted on the upper part, the neck. Where: Room 15 of Level 0 of the British Museum

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